Never Stop Learning No Matter Your Age
Our Student Stories blog series highlights the experiences of GreenFig students currently enrolled in our Digital Marketing Science course. Here, we’ll introduce you to several students, find out what drove them to GreenFig, what skills they’re developing right now, and what they aim to achieve with their microdegree from GreenFig.</em></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;">“Never stop learning, no matter what your age”</strong></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Deanna Paik could’ve been content to ride out the status quo. After all, the entrepreneur already owns a successful business and possesses a mile-long resume featuring business management roles in numerous sectors. She knows international shipping, how to buy patents overseas, and the ins and outs of owning a successful art gallery.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">But resting on her laurels doesn’t jive with Deanna’s never-stop-learning mentality. While the first half of her career is in the rear-view mirror, she strongly believed that in order to continue to thrive in the second half, her skills needed to evolve.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">When Deanna heard about the opportunity to grow her digital marketing skills as a student in our fall Digital Marketing Science course, she jumped at the chance.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I always challenge myself,” she says. “Even though I’m older than most of the other students, I always want to be relevant.“ Specifically, Deanna says she needed to update her technology and strategy skills. Marketing analytics and persona mapping were on the top of her list when starting the course.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Deanna notes that <a href="https://sandbox.greenfig.com/what-we-offer/industry-instructors/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(147, 201, 61); text-decoration-line: none;">GreenFig’s instructors</a> — who are all seasoned, and working, marketing experts — brought realism and energy to the classroom in a way that was empowering to her.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I’m most surprised by how energized I am,” she says. “You go into some courses and it’s interesting. But it doesn’t inspire you to get up in the morning and say ‘what else can I learn today’?”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Following 16 weeks of classroom instruction, GreenFig students have transitioned to the Apprentorship Module (a mentor-guided apprenticeship with real-world companies). Leveraging their new skills, small groups of students collaborate with a real-world company and execute an active, real-world marketing campaign.<br>“You can sit and learn new skills,” says Deanna, “but to experience it is another thing. I’ve got to put my hands on it and use it.”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">For Deanna, “micro education” is all about evolving, and thriving. Already equipped with tremendous skills and experience, Deanna didn’t want or need a career U-turn. Rather, her aim is to strengthen and adapt her skills to a changing digital workforce. A highly focused, super-charged course that builds job-ready skills and experience in a condensed period of time was the perfect solution.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I want to see my professional future keep going for the next 20 or 30 years, and a micro degree from GreenFig allows me to do that,” Deanna says. “To continue to thrive in today’s workplace, this is where people like me need to be.”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“When I look back, I’ve changed my career every 7 to 8 years,” she adds. ‘I’ve gone from the cosmetic industry, to buying patents in Europe, working for a law firm, then going into the sp</p>
